The final artwork created by the artist Jamie Reid, known for his designs for the punk band the Sex Pistols during the 1970s, will be going on display for the first time this month at Brighton’s Enter Gallery. “Jamie Reid, A Lifetime of Radical Gestures” opens on April 25 and will celebrate the life of Reid, who passed away in August 2023, showing work from the artist’s “Rogue Materials” series, which he made between 1972 and 2021. Fifty photographs will also be on display, chronicling Reid’s life.
Reid was born in 1947, raised in a “diehard socialist” household. He met Sex Pistol’s manager Malcolm McLaren when the pair were studying at Croydon College of Art, and McLaren introduced him to the band with whom Reid would be forever associated. Over his lifetime, Reid worked on several left-wing publications including the West Highland Free Press and the Suburban Press.
Reid’s designs are synonymous with the 1970s punk spirit, most notably his iconic collaged work for the cover of the Sex Pistol’s 1977 single “God Save the Queen,” an image that was so scandalizing it offended workers at the printing plant. Despite his anti-establishment beginnings, Reid artworks are highly coveted by commercial galleries, fashion brands, and now fetch high sums at auction. A promotional poster for “God Save the Queen” previously owned by Sid Vicious, Sex Pistol’s bassist, sold at Sotheby’s London for $49,796 in 2022. Collectors of Reid’s work include Vivienne Westwood, Madonna, and Angelina Jolie, and his work is held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and London’s Victoria and Albert Museum and National Portrait Gallery.
“Radical ideas will always get appropriated by the mainstream… That’s why you have to keep moving on to new things,” the artist told in a 2018 interview
Jamie Reid’s “God Save the Queen” machine print on view in 2022, ahead of a Sotheby’s London auction. Photo: Daniel Leal / AFP via Getty Images.
Reid’s final artwork, a homage to his single cover for Sex Pistol’s “Anarchy in the U.K.,” shows a torn Union Jack flag, held together with safety pins. The print was approved by Reid and his foundation the Arcova Trust before his death in 2023. (2024) is being released in two new silkscreen editions, one sized 67 by 100 cm (26.4 by 39.4 inches) in an edition of 200, and another sized 100 by 150 cm (39.4 by 59 inches) in an edition of 76—a reference to the year the Sex Pistols released the record.
“A Lifetime of Radical Gestures” was co-curated by the gallerist and archivist John Marchant, a friend and representative of Reid’s who announced the passing of the “artist, iconoclast, anarchist, punk, hippie, rebel and romantic” in an Instagram post.
“I am very happy that we are partnering with Enter Gallery to launch this exclusive editioned print of Jamie Reid’s infamous ‘Anarchy In the U.K.’ flag, as we have a great history of working together to offer Jamie’s world-renowned art and messages to collectors,” he said. “Jamie and I started work on this edition last summer and although Jamie is no longer with us, I am pleased that this classic work is finally available as a tribute to his incredible legacy.”
Enter Gallery’s Head of Buying, Helen Hiett, said: “Enter Gallery had the pleasure of working closely with Jamie Reid over several decades. He was a true visionary, always fighting for equality and justice via exciting, rebellious, and risqué works that provoked a reaction. In this retrospective, we honor his fascinating life and creativity, and can’t wait to bring his iconic work to the people of Brighton and beyond.”
Source: Exhibition - news.artnet.com
